One of my favorite things to do as a child was go to the International House of Pancakes {affectionately known to many as IHOP} for breakfast on Saturdays with my family. I think my orders always varied, but typically involved chocolate chip pancakes or some intensely sugary and indulgent mix of chocolate, whipped cream, strawberries and syrup. I loved that on each table, they placed about 4 different types of syrup, including blueberry. I loved experimenting with those syrups, fancying myself a mixologist of sorts, creating all kinds of {I assume} horribly sugary pancake concoctions.

My mom would always order the “German” pancakes, which were light and fluffy crepes with lemon and sugar {which, sadly, are not on their menu anymore}. As I got older, and my tastes got {slightly} more refined, these crepes started becoming by go-to. Infinitely lighter in texture than pancakes, they never made me feel too heavy. When I finally tasted truly “international” versions of crepes in France and Italy, I was hooked. Last Sunday, on a particularly lazy day that consisted of watching crap TV and movies, I whipped up a batch of crepes, simply throwing a few ingredients I had on hand into a blender. I topped these crepes with carmelized figs – I heated halved figs in a pan with butter, honey and thyme sprigs until their sugars carmelized slightly, and turned a lovely golden brown. Topped with mascarpone whipped cream, these crepes were the perfect lazy Sunday morning breakfast.

Recipes

Crepes

From Julia Child

1 cup flour

2/3 cup cold milk

2/3 cup cold water

3 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for brushing on pan

Mix all ingredients until smooth in a blender or with a whisk. Refrigerate.

Pour in 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter into the center of the pan and then tilt the pan in all directions to cover the bottom evenly. Cook about 1 minute, or until browned on the bottom. Turn and cook briefly on the other side.

Cool on a rack or plate as you finish making the rest. Serve as desired.

Note: I think these crepes would be even better with the addition of brown butter in place of the butter.

Carmelized Figs

6-8 fresh figs, halved

2 tablespoons honey

2 tablespoons butter

4 sprigs fresh thyme, if desired

Spread about 1/2 teaspoon honey over each fig half, or enough to coat. Heat medium skillet over medium high heat. When hot, add butter and let it sizzle. Add thyme springs, and stir to evenly mix. Place figs, cut side down, in the butter, and leave, untouched, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until carmelized. Remove figs from skillet and keep warm.

Mascarpone Cream

1/2 c. whipping cream

1/3 c. mascarpone cream

1/4 c. powdered sugar

Whip whipping cream in a bowl using a wire whisk just until soft peaks form. Add mascarpone and sugar, and continue to whip until combined and desired texture is achieved.

Lovely, Lindsay! And yes, you can use brown butter in crêpe batter, a friend on mine just tried it and told me it was delicious. I have never tasted it yet, but I am quite convinced it can only be delicious!

Me too! I was so pissed at myself for realizing after the fact that I could have easily substituted brown butter for the melted butter in the crepe batter – too easy! And I love the color and flavor brown butter imparts to EVERYTHING, so I am sure it would have made these crepes even better! 🙂 Next time…Hope you are doing well! xo

Thanks so much Jenn! And for stopping by! I read your post about your fig tree and your freak bee incident – hilarious!!! I wish I had a fig tree in my backyard…Was thinking it would be fun to do a fig recipe roundup, if I ever get my act together. 🙂 xoxo

Oh, Lindsay, these are just beautiful! Between the caramelized figs and the mascarpone cream and the crepes themselves, I don’t know what I like better. Delicious and gorgeous, to boot. Speaking of favorite things to do, there is this crepe place I used to go to when I was still in Seattle at the Pike Place Market that had the best fresh peach crepes. You’d have thought I worked for them by how I spoke about them to the other customers as I waited for mine to be prepared — ah, delight is a crepe =) Thanks for sharing, lovely, hope all is wonderful up there in SF =) xo!

Haha I love it Christina! I would TOTALLY do the same thing! Peach crepes – mmmm – now I am going to be dreaming about those for awhile…Please post about them! Pretty please!? 🙂 Hope you are settling in well in San Diego love! xoxo

Growing up as a Christian girl, there was always an ongoing joke about IHOP… the pancake house doesn’t exist here in Australia, but ‘International House of Prayer’ does! It goes by the same acronym. So as soon as we found out there was a pancake version, the Church suddenly became the ‘Pancake House’. Ah, children! 🙂 Anyway, these gorgeous crepes look so delicate, both in flavour and texture. I definitely agree that crepes are a perfect way to get a delicious pancake fix without the heavy feeling afterwards. I’ve come to adore goats cheese and/or mascarpone with figs and honey. Such a beautiful combination. I’ll have to make this for Aaron and I one weekend! I do hope you’re well beautiful! xxox

Haha – funny to hear about what IHOP means to you! 🙂 Silly kids! I don’t think I truly appreciated how easy crepes were to make at home with the right sized non-stick pan – I will be whipping these up every weekend! 🙂 Want to try something savory next…Hope you’re doing well love! xoxo

We have the same childhood. When I was a kid, my mom brought me to a pancake house where I can try and make my own pancakes. I still remember the recipes and nowadays I make it for breakfast with my family. There is no day without a pancake at my home.

The Fine Print

Unless otherwise specified, all content, recipes and photographs on this site were created by Lindsay for Fleur de Sel.

I do my absolute best to link back to photos found from other sources, both via click-throughs and image credit listings. Feel free to use photos and recipes from this site, but please link back to this blog as your source.